Mother guilt shocker

-
I had a bit of nasty jolt back to the reality of the working mother last night.  My 5 year old was in floods of tears at the prospect of me going back to work today (yes, sadly, the holidays are over - but gee, they were great).  I already feel permanently guilty about working and enjoyed being around for the kids in the holidays.  However, I had reached the point where I was looking forward to going back to work to do my actual job (this I do enjoy), but the guilt I was not looking forward to.  So when your youngest child cries that she only wants Mummy to pick her up from school - ouch - tough.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep so well last night.

Anyway, she had a fine day in the end.  My parents were looking after them (their school hadn't started yet) and she learnt to ride a bike without training wheels - goodness me, what a fabulous outcome.  And I spent time this evening typing up a chart of little pictures to show her who is taking her where and when and on what days.  She thought this was very special - it is beside her bed.

It has got me thinking though.  What do I need to ditch off the ailing ship so that I can keep working?  I really need to be available to spend as much time with her as possible when I'm at home.  I think it's the only way she's going to cope at the moment.  It's not a forever thing - just what I need to do at the moment.

And thankfully work was great.  I felt good to be back.  I do enjoy what I'm doing.  If work had been bad I suspect I wouldn't have been feeling so chipper about the whole deal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Confessions of an earl grey addict

-
Image
I have to confess in this public forum that I'm addicted to earl grey tea. I used to like the expensive stuff (Twinings) but because I drink so much of it, over the years I've had to buy the home brand version because I couldn't afford to sustain my habit. On Monday mornings I'd go to playgroup and have a cup of tea.  But one wasn't enough.  I'd have to go back for another. I'd visit a friend and enjoy the first cuppa.  But start to wonder if it too rude to ask for another, an hour into our visit. I don't have milk or sugar with it.  That just wrecks the purity of the experience.  I would branch out sometimes and enjoy Lady Grey or French Earl Grey for a treat.  But for everyday purposes my friend was the 'Earl'. But two weeks ago I went cold turkey.  I just decided that it was time to break the habit.  I have entered the world of herbal teas with all its strange flavours.  Peppermint (toothpaste dissolved in hot water).  Camom...
Read more

Going grey at 40

-
Image
I have written about this before , but after broaching the subject on facebook a few weeks ago I've been thinking a lot about the whole colouring your hair deal.  On facebook I asked when having natural coloured hair was going to become trendy like other old fashioned things like quilting and growing your veges?  I am quite tired of how time consuming colouring my hair is and how expensive it is. A very interesting conversation resulted with a huge variety of opinions.  Many of the women said they would be going natural, but of course they aren't gray now (and are my age) so I don't think that really counts.  Until you ACTUALLY start going seriously gray/white you can't see how it impacts on the way you look.  I think it is different to be almost white (like myself) at age 40 and agreeing in principle to going natural when it happens to you in the future (when you will be a lot older than I am now!). Just quietly, I'll believe it when I see it (let me thr...
Read more

Why I won't home school (if I don't have to)

-
Image
Occasionally I get asked what I think about home schooling.  Let me say from the outset that I'm not against it at all.  I was actually homeschooled for Year 3 because I wasn't coping with the local Indian school and I wasn't old enough for boarding school.  I have lots of friends who do it - some out of necessity (eg. missionary friends in remote places with no options) or out of choice (because their child doesn't cope with the mainstream school system).   So I'm fine with the whole concept. I have great admiration for families that choose to provide that education for their kids.  It is hard work and a significant drain on time and emotional energy (usually for the mum).  I also think that it can be a great gift for children who would otherwise get lost in a conventional educational institution. But why wouldn't I do it?  Partly because I did homeschooling myself and found it quite lonely.  I missed the social interaction of school a...
Read more